Because of a mistake. Valve didn't know the linux world well enough and didn't research it well enough before jumping on the linux wagon. Now they're surprised to see stats that everyone is using x86_64 and almost no one x86. I guess a 64-bit version is on the way and will arrive in Valve Time.

Valve has taken the path of making Steam first work on one selected platform: Ubuntu. The only way to make sure a single piece of software works for everyone is to make it 32-bit, because 32-bit processors and operating systems can't run 64-bit programs, but 64-bit can run 32-bit.

I think we might see a 64-bit version at some point, but I won't hold my breath until then. 32-bit only should be just a minor inconvenience, since I don't think there are any real advantages at the moment for the Steam client itself from running at 64 bits.

Because of a mistake. Valve didn't know the linux world well enough and didn't research it well enough before jumping on the linux wagon. Now they're surprised to see stats that everyone is using x86_64 and almost no one x86. I guess a 64-bit version is on the way and will arrive in Valve Time.

Because of a mistake. Valve didn't know the linux world well enough and didn't research it well enough before jumping on the linux wagon. Now they're surprised to see stats that everyone is using x86_64 and almost no one x86. I guess a 64-bit version is on the way and will arrive in Valve Time.

Source?

It's called a brain. Everyone has one, rumor has it. I'm sure they didn't want to f*ck up intentionally, so it must be a mistake and lack of research.

Because of a mistake. All game developers in the world don't know the computer world well enough and didn't research it well enough before jumping on the developing wagon. Now they're surprised to see stats that everyone is using x86_64 and almost no one x86. I guess all 64-bit versions are on the way and will arrive any time soon.

Because of a mistake. Valve didn't know the linux world well enough and didn't research it well enough before jumping on the linux wagon. Now they're surprised to see stats that everyone is using x86_64 and almost no one x86. I guess a 64-bit version is on the way and will arrive in Valve Time.

What? Valve already know 64 bit is the most prevalent, you can see this in hwsurvey. 55% of users use Win7 x64.

Most Wintendo gamers are already running on 64-bit capable CPUs, but there is no Win64 Steam client yet.

Also, not all programs are trivial to port to 64-bit, and things can get even more confusing for multiplatform apps. I've met with dozens of Linux apps that have Win32 and Linux64 binaries, but can't be compiled under Win64. There are some subtle implementation differences that can be a pain to correct in your codebase before commiting to a 64-bit build.

x86 CPUs won't go away anytime soon, that's a cold hard fact. Not that Valve should be using that excuse forever, just like Win16 is dead and buried, the fate of 32-bit mainstream OS is already written in its tombstone.

I think he meant: What is the source of your claim "I guess a 64bit version is on the way."?

That part is speculation. Assuming Valve isn't an enemy of itself. In the current situation, they could just have one native DOS version of Steam because it runs on all platforms in DOSBOX. Having a native version (including architecture) is something important.

Yes, remember when people started asking for a 64-bit windows client. Valve said there's no need for it, because 32-bit Steam runs fine on windows, and there are still many people using 32-bit operating systems, like windows xp.

Linux is different. x86 is not the standard here. People have been using x86_64 for a very long time, because most programs/drivers/etc are open source, and therefore are available for the platform. Almost no one uses 32-bit linux anymore. The important thing is, that 64-bit linux distributions don't run 32-bit programs by default as windows does. You have to install 32-bit libraries, which takes extra hard drive space and makes you're well-maintained, clean OS into a mixture. I don't think anyone denies that it's a bad thing, even if it works.

Yes, remember when people started asking for a 64-bit windows client. Valve said there's no need for it, because 32-bit Steam runs fine on windows, and there are still many people using 32-bit operating systems, like windows xp.

Linux is different. x86 is not the standard here. People have been using x86_64 for a very long time, because most programs/drivers/etc are open source, and therefore are available for the platform. Almost no one uses 32-bit linux anymore. The important thing is, that 64-bit linux distributions don't run 32-bit programs by default as windows does. You have to install 32-bit libraries, which takes extra hard drive space and makes you're well-maintained, clean OS into a mixture. I don't think anyone denies that it's a bad thing, even if it works.

I see what you mean, but I think Valve were fully aware of x64 being the standard for Linux users and their dislike of having to download 32 bit libs. They must have decided against x64 for some other reason.

You have to install 32-bit libraries, which takes extra hard drive space and makes you're well-maintained, clean OS into a mixture. I don't think anyone denies that it's a bad thing, even if it works.

I don't think having 32 bit and 64 bit software on the same machine is a bad thing. I think it's the right thing to do. Most software does not benefit from 64 bit. The programs just get larger (I don't think that matters, but you talked about drive space). The steam client obviously is among the programs that don't benefit. As long as the client pulls in it dependencies, be it 32 or 64 bit software, automatically (I don't know if it already does for Ubuntu, it did not for my Debian installation) and can start 64 bit games (which shouldn't be a problem), everything should be fine.